Green Dot Corp., which last month became the first major prepaid card company to go public, posted a 44 percent jump in operating revenue in the second quarter.
The Monrovia, Calif., company, which sells its prepaid cards through Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers, reported last week its first earnings announcement since completing its initial public offering, which raised $164.1 million for its investors.
Operating revenue reached $90.3 million, up from $62.9 million in the year-earlier quarter. Net income was virtually flat at $12.5 million. Net income allocated to common stockholders was $4.6 million, or 29 cents per diluted share, compared with $3.9 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter. The company's results were helped by higher activations, which rose 67 percent year over year to 1.5 million.
In a press release, Green Dot said it added convenience store operator Circle K Stores as a distributor of its cards. The firm has also stated its intent to buy Bonneville Bancorp, a Utah based institution. Those plans have caused some controversy given Green Dot's relationship with Wal-Mart, though the firms say the relationship and Green Dot's plans are not part of a larger plan by Wal-Mart to become a bank.
Green Dot reported having 3.2 million active cards — which have been used to make a purchase, automated teller machine withdrawal or reload in the previous 90 days — in the second quarter, a 60% increase over a year earlier. The amount of money loaded on Green Dot's cards was $2.4 billion, up 77 percent.
